Aqamai KPS Water Pump Review: The Hardware

The Aqamai KPS water pump is a new direction from Hydor and a gadget we’ve been excited to try since May of last year. We first saw this new device at InterZoo in Germany and Hydor’s been doing a great job of keeping our interest high by showing it off at more than half a dozen reef shows since then.

But now that we’ve finally got a unit in our hands, it’s time to really evaluate this miniature water mover for ourselves. First of all, the Aqamai KPS is perhaps the only true controllable ‘Nano’ propeller pump on the market.

Sure many of us, ourselves included, have long relied on the Vortech MP10 to fulfill this function but this pump is really in a league of its own. Priced at $235 or $285 for the wireless version, the Vortech MP10 is way more power than you really need in a nano tank – it’s actually better suited to medium sized aquariums up to four feet long where you can actually let this pump crank some water flow.

Priced at $99 with wireless control, and a maximum power of 10 watts, the Aqamai KPS is the nano propeller pump we’ve really been waiting for. The pump itself is barely the size of a small egg, and while it does extend further in the tank than the wetside of an MP10, it has a slimmer profile which should be easier to hide in small tank aquascapes.

The dual magnet and suction cup mounting design first introduced in Gen 3 Koralias was easily able to grip onto the half inch glass of a 60 gallon aquarium, and therefore should have no issues with thinner glass in true nano tanks. Furthermore, with a bearing system that’s been refined for nearly a decade, the Aqamai KPS is completely inaudible at full power – this is one of the quietest water movers we’ve ever tested but it doesn’t hurt that it tops out at just 10 watts of power.

The hardware of the Aqamai KPS water pump is spot-on but what really adds value to the package is the wireless hub which allows direct control of water flow speed and flow types. Thankfully, unlike the WAV pumps from Neptune Systems this pump works standalone – even before you connect it to the Aqamai hub – so there’s no lengthy registration, login and configurations required before you can get the pump to turn even once.

Stay tuned for part two where we dive into the software and controllability features of the Aqamai KPS water pump.

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.